Published Performance Audits on Mining Revenues and Financial Assurances for Site Remediation
Performance auditors in Canada, the United States, Australia, and other resource-rich countries already have some experience in conducting performance audits of revenues from the extraction of minerals and financial assurances for site remediation. A search of our Audit News Database and of other websites has identified 16 performance audits on these topics published since 2008. (Some of these audits have covered both revenues and financial assurances.) Table 1 presents a list of performance audits that examined mining revenues, while Table 2 provides a list of performance audits that examined financial assurances.
Table 1 – Published Performance Audits on Revenues from the Extraction of Minerals
| Audit Office | Year | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Vérificateur général du Québec (Office of the Auditor General of Quebec) | 2009 | Les interventions gouvernementales dans le secteur minier (Government Interventions in the Mining Sector) |
| Audit Office of New South Wales | 2010 | Coal Mining Royalties |
| Office of the Auditor General of Western Australia | 2011 | Ensuring Compliance with Conditions on Mining |
| Comptroller and Auditor General of India | 2012 | Allocation of Coal Blocks and Augmentation of Coal Production, Ministry of Coal |
| Vérificateur général du Québec (Office of the Auditor General of Quebec) | 2013 | Suivi – Interventions gouvernementales dans le secteur minier (Follow-up – Government Interventions in the Mining Sector) |
| Office of the Auditor General of Nova Scotia | 2014 | Natural Resources: Mineral Resource Management |
| Office of the Auditor General of Ontario | 2015 | Mines and Minerals Program |
| Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia | 2016 | An Audit of Compliance and Enforcement of the Mining Sector |
Source: Data from our Audit News Database and other sites for the period 2008–2016.
Table 2 – Published Performance Audits on Financial Assurances for Mining Site Remediation
Source: Data from our Audit News Database and other sites for the period 2008–2016.
The focus of these performance audits varied considerably. Some have focused solely on royalties (for example, the 2010 New South Wales audit on coal mining royalties) or on financial assurances for site remediation (for example, the 2015 Alberta audit on systems to ensure sufficient financial security). Other audits have covered one of these issues as part of a larger audit of the sustainable development of a resource sector (for example, the 2009 Quebec audit of government interventions in the mining sector). These audits reflect the range of scoping options available to performance auditors when auditing the mining sector.
In the early planning phase of a new audit, reviewing previously published performance audits and reviewing the work conducted by financial auditors may help audit teams to:
- complete their list of potential audit issues to examine and
- identify risk factors that they might not yet have considered.
LinkedIn
Twitter